Monk's House is an 18th century weatherboarded cottage located in the village of Rodmell, three miles (4.8km) south-east of Lewes, East Sussex, England. The writer Virginia Woolf and her husband, the political activist, journalist and editor Leonard Woolf, purchased the house in 1919, and received many important visitors connected to the Bloomsbury Group, including T. S. Eliot, E. M. Forster, Roger Fry and Lytton Strachey.
Virginia's sister, the artist Vanessa Bell, lived at nearby Charleston Farmhouse in Firle from 1916, and though contrasting in style, both houses became important outposts of the Bloomsbury Group.
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During the Woolfs’ early years at Rodmell, Monk's House was of modest dimensions with three-quarters of an acre of garden including an orchard and a number of outbuildings. Conditions were primitive and over the years they made many alterations and additions including: improvements to the kitchen; the installation of a hot water range and bathroom with water closet; and a two-storey extension in 1929. In 1928 they purchased an adjoining field to preserve the beautiful views from the garden towards Mount Caburn.[1]
The Woolfs spent increasing amounts of time in Rodmell, eventually living there full-time from 1940 when their flat in Mecklenburgh Square, Bloomsbury, London, was damaged during a raid. The solitude of village life allowed Virginia respite from the tumult of London, and it is in the small wooden lodge at the bottom of the garden that many of her novels took shape. Her final novel, Between the Acts,[2] published posthumously in July 1941, is steeped in references to Rodmell and the traditions and values of its villagers.
Virginia documented her life at the house in photographs. Preserved in the Monk's House Albums, these include portraits and group pictures of many who visited the house.[3]
In March 1941, Virginia committed suicide by drowning herself in the nearby Ouse. Leonard continued to live at Monk's House until his death in 1969, and played an active role in village life; both he and Virginia had been members of the Socialist Party, and he became a manager of the village school in Rodmell in the 1930s. He was also treasurer and president of the Rodmell and District Horticultural Society.[4]
Following Leonard's death, the house was bequeathed to his close friend, the artist Trekkie Parsons, née Ritchie, who sold it to University of Sussex in 1972. The house was eventually turned over to the National Trust in 1980,[4] and is open to the public twice-weekly. It is administered and largely maintained on the Trust's behalf by tenant curators Caroline and Jonathan Zoob. The ground floor including sitting room, dining room, kitchen and Virginia's bedroom are on display and Virginia's writing lodge can be found at the bottom of the garden with views across to Mount Caburn.